Rocking the Casbah

I meant to post about this earlier, but you know how life is. Saturday night we went to Casbah, a fancy Mediterranean restaurant in Shadyside. This place is part of a group of restaurants called Big Burrito, which I find hilarious.

The atmosphere is very cool and dark, and the outdoor seating is actually in a tented area out in front of the entrance, so you're not dining under the stars. We requested an indoor table and were placed in a dark cozy corner out of the traffic. Later it got so dark that I couldn't see my food.

Apparently, the menu changes daily so you never know what you're going to get, however we found that the online menu was identical to that evening's offerings. We started with a plate of spreads and grilled seasoned pita bread that included hummus, baba ghanoush, and some roasted red pepper stuff (the favorite). I also had a mojito that was very refreshing.

For dinner we decided to split a couple of entrees: the Elysian Fields Farm lamb loin with polenta and stewed eggplant and chickpeas, and the Casbah double-cut pork chop with risotto and kale. The meats were wonderful, although we were very disappointed by the size of the lamb portion, which was maybe 2 ounces at best. For the price I wanted to dig into a thick juicy steak.

I usually prefer grilled polenta, but the grits that were served were nice and fine. The pork chop was topped with crispy green onion strips that I really enjoyed, but I don't think Dave was thrilled with them. Neither of us is a kale fan so we left that on the plate.

Although we didn't leave stuffed, nothing on the dessert menu was very tempting, so we headed home. I'd go there again if someone else was paying.